Abstract
Rila Mountain and Pirin Mountain (N 42.1°, E 23.5° and N 41.7°, E 23.4°) are the highest morphounits in the Balkan Peninsula. During the last Ice Age (Wuerm), their highest parts were subjected to an alpine-type glaciation. This led to the formation of various glacial landforms. The most expressive of them are the cirques. The main goal of the present study is to examine and evaluate the possible fractal geometry of 77 glacial cirques in Rila and Pirin Mountains. For this purpose is used the number / area method for estimating of surface fractals. This is the first investigation of this type for the study lands at all. The results obtained unambiguously confirm the fractal geometry of glacial cirques in the Rila and Pirin Mountains. This in turn provides new guidance in the analysis and interpretation of the relief building processes within the research area.
Highlights
The activity of modern and Pleistocene glaciers is an important relief-building factor that has an impact on significant parts of the Earth's surface
The contemporary relief of Rila and Pirin Mountains is formed during Pleistocene, when the mountains were subjected to an alpine type of glaciation
4) Given the fractal properties of glacial cirques, there are all prerequisites to believing that landforms formation within Rila and Pirin Mountains is carried out in self-organizing environment which create natural structures with fractal geometry
Summary
The activity of modern and Pleistocene glaciers is an important relief-building factor that has an impact on significant parts of the Earth's surface. The first to describe glacial traces in Bulgaria was Jovan Cvijic (Cvijić, [1]), whose pioneer work in glacial geomorphology was done in Rila Mountain. He was the first to propose that during the Late Pleistocene (Wuermian) glaciation the ELA should have been at about 2200 m. Glacial landforms in Pirin Mountain were discussed in the works of Penck [8], Louis [9], Lilienberg [10] and many others They considered traces of only one Ice age (the Wuermian) with three retreat stages. The maximum extent of glaciers daring from the last (Wuermian) Ice age (Mitkov, Gachev, [11]) Along with the configuration of valleys and valley shape, they indicate the position of former equilibrium line at altitudes between 2150 and 2250 m a. s. l.(Kuhlemann et al, [7], [12])
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